Much to San Francisco 49ers fans' delight, this week, ESPN's Bill Barnwell selected the Bay Area team's group of playmakers as the best in the NFL. The writer examined the NFL landscape, looking at each team's wide receivers, running backs, and tight ends. He then ranked the organizations based on those skill positions.
Wide receivers were weighed more heavily than the other positions, but obviously, the 49ers have talent at all three spots.
Barnwell joined SportsCenter to explain why San Francisco is the clear choice for the top spot on his list.
"It's because they are so good with the ball in their hands after the catch," Barnwell told Scott Van Pelt. "And we saw this. This isn't some hypothetical thing. We saw this last year during the second half of the season when [QB] Brock Purdy was their starting quarterback."
Purdy, a rookie at the time, entered last season as the 49ers' third quarterback on the depth chart. That changed after Trey Lance suffered a season-ending ankle injury in Week 2 and Jimmy Garoppolo went down with a broken foot in Week 13. Purdy became San Francisco's starting quarterback, and the team didn't skip a beat.
"It was [RB] Christian McCaffrey making linebackers miss," Barnwell continued. "It was [TE] George Kittle running people over into the end zone for a hot second half. It's [WR] Deebo Samuel running away from defenders in the postseason. They have so many pieces that, individually, one on one, or taking advantage of mismatches, can absolutely pick apart opposing defenses.
"[Head coach] Kyle Shanahan helps. Brock Purdy is a little better than I think we gave him credit for, but at the end of the day, you put the Niners with [Chiefs QB] Patrick Mahomes, you put the Niners with [Bengals QB] Joe Burrow, I think you put the Niners with anybody else, they would look more impressive than any other playmaking group in football."
Barnwell creates this list annually, and the 49ers have leaped ahead of several other teams in recent years. In 2021, the Niners ranked No. 12 in the NFL. Last year, it ranked No. 3. Last season's addition of McCaffrey certainly elevated the group.
"McCaffrey averaged just under 2.0 yards per route run with a 26.6% target rate after joining the 49ers, which is right about what Garrett Wilson did over the same time frame as a receiver for the Jets," Barnwell wrote in his feature for ESPN. "McCaffrey threw in 159 carries for 746 yards as a bonus."
While Samuel regressed from his breakout 2021 campaign, Barnwell still believes in the young do-everything receiver's ability to be a significant contributor.
"Samuel attributed the decline to being out of shape, which is scary when you consider he still finished second in yards after catch over expectation per target," Barnwell wrote. "He's clearly the best yards-after-catch receiver in the league."
Wideout Brandon Aiyuk surpassed 1,000 receiving yards for the first time in his NFL career. Kittle had a phenomenal second half of the season, finishing with a career-high 11 touchdown catches.
"He went nuclear over the final month of the season, racking up 265 receiving yards and seven touchdowns from Week 14 on," Barnwell wrote of Kittle. "The bruising tight end missed the first two games of the season and then subsequently stayed healthy, an exciting development for a player who hasn't played a full season since that breakout campaign in 2018. Kittle is not going to average 3.0 yards per route run again like he did that season, but he has reinforced his standing as one of the best receiving tight ends in football to go with all he does as a blocker."